Shōgun полностью

Yabu had been inflexible, and so late at night it was impossible to go to Toranaga to ask him to rescind the order. There had been no time or privacy to talk any more with Mariko or Fujiko, other than to say formal good-bys. But they would meet soon in Osaka. "Very soon, Anjin-san," Mariko had said…

"Lord God, don't let me lose her," Blackthorne said, the sea gulls cawing above the beach, their cries intensifying his loneliness.

"Lose who, Sire?"

Blackthorne came back into reality. He pointed at the distant ship. "We call ships her-we think of ships as female, not male. Wakarimasu ka?"

"Hai."

Blackthorne could still see the tiny figures of his crew and his insoluble dilemma confronted him once more. You've got to have them aboard, he said to himself, and more like them. And the new men'll not take kindly to samurai either, and they'll be Catholic as well, most of them. God in heaven, how to control them all? Mariko was right. Near Catholics I'm a dead man.

"Even me, Anjin-san," she had said last night.

"No, Mariko-chan. Not you."

"You said we're your enemy, this afternoon."

"I said most Catholics are my enemies."

"They will kill you if they can."

"Yes. But thou… will we truly meet in Osaka?"

"Yes. I love thee. Anjin-san, remember, beware of Yabu-san…"

They were all right about Yabu, Blackthorne thought, whatever he says, whatever he promises. I made a bad mistake calling my men off when he was trapped. That bastard'll cut my throat as soon as I've outlived my usefulness, however much he pretends otherwise. And yet Yabu's right too: I need him. I'll never get into Nagasaki and out again without protection. He could surely help to persuade Toranaga. With him leading two thousand more fanatics, we could lay waste all Nagasaki and maybe even Macao…

Madonna! Alone I'm helpless.

Then he remembered what Gyoko had told Mariko about Uraga, about not trusting him. Gyoko was wrong about him, he thought. What else is she wrong about?

Once more in the crowded Osaka sea roads after the long journey by galley, Blackthorne again felt the same crushing weight of the city as when he had first seen it. Great swathes had been laid waste by the tai-fun and some areas were still fire-blackened, but its immensity was almost untouched and still dominated by the castle. Even from this distance, more than a league, he could see the colossal girth of the first great wall, the towering battlements, all dwarfed by the brooding malevolence of the donjon.

"Christ," Vinck said nervously, standing beside him on the prow, "doesn't seem possible to be so big. Amsterdam 'd be a flyspeck alongside it."

"Yes. The storm's hurt the city but not that badly. Nothing could touch the castle."

The tai-fun had slammed out of the southwest two weeks ago. They had had plenty of warning, with lowering skies and squalls and rain, and had rushed the galley into a safe harbor to wait out the tempest. They had waited five days. Beyond the harbor the ocean had been whipped to froth and the winds were more violent and stronger than anything Blackthorne had ever experienced.

"Christ," Vinck said again. "Wish we were home. We should've been home a year ago."

Blackthorne had brought Vinck with him from Yokohama and sent the others back to Yedo, leaving Erasmus safely harbored and guarded under Naga's command. His crew had been happy to go-as he had been happy to see the last of them. There had been more quarreling that night and a violent argument over the ship's bullion. The money was company money, not his. Van Nekk was treasurer of the expedition and chief merchant and, jointly with the Captain-General, had legal jurisdiction over it. After it had been counted and recounted and found correct, less a thousand coins, van Nekk supported by Jan Roper had argued about the amount that he could take with him to get new men.

"You want far too much, Pilot! You'll have to offer them less!"

"Christ Jesus! Whatever it takes we have to pay. I must have seamen and gunners." He had slammed his fist on the table of the great cabin. "How else are we going to get home?"

Eventually he had persuaded them to let him take enough, and was disgusted that they had made him lose his temper with their pettifogging. The next day he had shipped them back to Yedo, a tenth of the treasure split up among them as back pay, the rest under guard on the ship.

"How do we know it'll be safe here?" Jan Roper asked, scowling.

"Stay and guard it yourself then!"

But none of them had wanted to stay aboard. Vinck had agreed to come with him.

"Why him, Pilot?" van Nekk had asked.

"Because he's a seaman and I'll need help."

Blackthorne had been glad to see the last of them. Once at sea he began to change Vinck to Japanese ways. Vinck was stoic about it, trusting Blackthorne, having sailed too many years with him not to know his measure. "Pilot, for you I'll bathe and wash every day but I'll be God-cursed afore I wear a poxy nighty!"